MARATHON – The town's Port Hole Pool has been closed permanently for health and safety reasons.
At a special meeting of council on Tuesday, council approved the permanent closure of the pool following a comprehensive structural engineering and architectural review and an administrative recommendation.
“This is a very unfortunate situation for our community and our residents," said Mayor Rick Dumas said in a statement. "This is a well-used facility with so many benefits. But the facility is showing its age and is due for replacement. We cannot open and operate a facility that is deemed to be unsafe.”
The pool structure was inspected on July 10 by TBT Engineering and they found that, based on observations and the age of the structure, the engineering opinion is that the pool area is not safe for continued operation in its present state.
The report noted that there has been significant section loss in the wall girt system which has compromised the integrity of the pool structure.
“The end wall steel frame bases show more than 50 per cent of the section area has corroded away compromising the integrity of this load bearing system.” the report read.
The TBT Engineering report was reviewed by CHA, which submitted an architectural report on July 21 finding the pool was no longer safe for public occupancy and must be brought up to current Ontario Building Code regulations.
“In the interest of public safety, we strongly advocate that the entire pool suite be closed until the structural concerns raised in the engineer’s letter are fully addressed.” CHA said in their report.
The town said that estimated order of magnitude repair costs would be more than $3.2 million. In addition to the project cost estimate, additional required work not listed in the order of magnitude estimate is expected to carry an additional cost of nearly $1.9 million, bringing the total estimated cost to $5 million.
Marathon administration recommended that due to health and safety and cost concerns, that the Port Hole Pool be closed permanently.
The architectural report does note that no other suite, such as the arena, theatre or lobby, is subject to the pool recommendations and may remain open for public occupancy without concern.
“Council has already directed administration to look at additional programming and recreation opportunities to help offset the closure of the pool," said Dumas. "Council expects a report back in the coming weeks which will be shared with the public in due course.”
The town said that it will not be responding individually to complaints received regarding the closure of the Port Hole Pool and that the appropriate public documents have been posted and the special meeting of council, held on Tuesday, was open to the public in-person and online, as well as recorded and posted.
